Astrology-Central

Aquarius: Divinitory Meaning

Aquarius, with its two ruling planets, Saturn and Uranus, is a sign of transformation, rebellion, and breakthroughs. Aquarians are on a constant search for their identity, their uniqueness and their personality. They are brilliant people with open minds, new ideas, sometimes strange ones. They are most definitely unconventional and constantly seek to be different, different from their past or any other “normal” people. They are inventors, explorers, and do not care what people will say or think about them. They bring revolution and change everywhere they go. They are social planners, sociology workers, psychologists, unconventional healers and especially people who are open for new and higher consciousness.

Saturn crystallizes forms and structures. Self-control is Saturn’s highest expression. Uranus shatters forms and substance and seeks a new way of expression. Old molds and ways of doing things need to be removed, yet something must be put in its place. Without Saturn’s responsiblity and discipline, Uranus will cause irresponsible destruction and chaos. This is not true freedom, as that can only come from within. But Liberation together with Responsibility can accomplish anything.

Aquarians are foward thinkers, outgoing, and constantly looking to re-invent themselves and their surroundings. They are brilliant people with open minds, new ideas, though sometimes strange ones. They seek out the "different," are mental explorers, creative inventors, and do not care what people will say or think about them. They stir things up and bring revolution and change everywhere they go. This makes them work well in organizations or big business because they are willing to break new ground and see things from a different angle.

Often work will interest them more than personal relationships. They hate restraint of any kind and approach life though the mind and not the emotions. Strong willed, they have strong convictions, and cannot be pushed into anything. They easily see both sides of an argument and are quite tolerant of other viewpoints, and will even change theirs if it is logical. Aquarians filter everything through the mind and connect to others mentally. Sometimes, other signs just don’t get it, or get them. This metal approach to life, however, can drive some into an ivory-tower existence where they meditate on abstractions that bear little relevance to life. Obviously, they would get along best with the other air signs, Gemini and Libra.

This mental activity gives a scientific bent and many will seek out science fields to benefit mankind. They are loners and need "space." Even in company, they still feel apart and will follow their own path.

The unevolved natives can be critical and demanding, cold and unmoving, unemotional and even cruel. The evolved Aquarian is giving and magnanimous, and recognizes that we are all heading to the same place, even though we are on different paths.

 KEYWORDS for Aquarius

Medically Speaking

Aquarius rules the lower leg, calf and ankles, and the valves of the heart. Also the blood circulation and the oxidation processes in the body. The body is strong, but they prefer to work with their minds. There can be rare illnesses and nervous ailments (afflicted Uranus).

Kabbalistic Connection

Aquarius, D’li in Hebrew, is numerically 44, same as blood, Dam. This means that the month of Shevat can be connected to the energy of the tree – the Tree of Life, consciousness of certainty and Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Self, or conversely, to the consciousness of bloodshed.

Aquarius, the Water Bearer, from a 14th Century manuscript

So distant that it can scarce be seen, blue green like Earth, yet cold – so cold.

URANUS is the urge to ‘make waves’ and change things in a radical – sometimes disruptive – way. It expresses self-will and the urge to upset the status-quo by shattering the structural norms of society. As an ‘outer’ planet, its long orbit means that it will stay in one sign for 7 years, so many of the people born in a 7-year period will have this planet in the same sign. Astrologers view it as ‘generational’ or a ‘collective’ energy, and it is notable as the rebellious side of our natures, often expressed in similar ways to our peers. It drives us to seek others who are in some way unique and is the model on which we seek perfection by challenging and improving on the present, through ‘futuristic’ ideas. So it is the part of us that is progressive, inventive and insubordinate! Negatively it can manifest in instability, knee-jerk reactions to life, highly strung nervous reactions, and chaotic thinking. But can make us inspirational and reformative as well as unrealistic and bizarre! It creates a desire for excitement and change by being eccentric, perverse, original and brilliant.

Uranus was first discovered in 1781 and is often associated with revolutions. It represents the drive to be unique, to shock and to surprise. It brings sudden and unpredictable events. Its influence is to raise personal consciousness. It is electric and lightning-fast in its effect. As Uranus takes 84 years to go around the Sun, it will be in any one sign for 7 years – therefore its effect is on a collective level, influencing successive generations. Its Sign position shows in what psychological area of humanity revolutionary changes will take place. The House Uranus is in will show in which specific area of your life revolutionary changes take place. It shows where you are most original, and where sudden developments will raise your consciousness. The aspects Uranus makes show in what part of your personality you have the greatest need to break free and act in the most unique and individual way. These aspects indicate rather extreme character traits where you may wish to shock others, or inspire them to change.

Its role is to free us from all conventional authorities and to drastically reform society along lines of truth and justice, individual freedom and liberty. It can bring quick, beneficial reforms or violent, disruptive, destructive events. It is associated with science and enlightenment, and seeks to base authority on knowledge which we discover for ourselves. Uranus is the planet of genius and constantly challenges us to look at things in a new way. It is sudden revelations and awakenings–the ruling planet of magicians, alchemists and astrologers. It rules capitalism, progress and the utopian expectations, and is one of the symbols of the "New Age."

Uranus is the planet of individuality, the Sudden, Unexpected and Unusual. It represents Originality, Inspiration, Dynamism, Independence, Will and Eccentricity. The influences create, invention, independence, drastic change through one’s life. Uranus, hones into the eccentric side of the personality, causing many to become, adventurous, bizarre, contrary, defiant, erratic, extraordinary, extremist, fanatical, Genius, Illegal, intuitive, inventive, nonconformist, outrageous, strange, transforming, unorthodox. It is the planet of innovation, nonconformity, higher intuition and inspiration. In a natal chart, a well-aspected Uranus can bring a touch of genius to the subject, while a heavily afflicted one can lead to eccentricity and unreliability. It is linked to Aquarius and the Eleventh House.

Uranus takes 84 years to transit the chart (4° / year).

MYTHOLOGY:

In Hesiod’s Theogony, the origin of all the gods is traced to an original primal marriage of Ouranos (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth):

Great Ouranos came, bringing on Night, and desirous of love, he spread himself over Gaia, stretched out in every direction.

From this celestial union, Gaia (Earth) bore the first generation of gods and giants, which included Kronos, the three Cyclopes, and the three Hundred-handers. She groaned, we are told, when these gods and giants were pressed tight inside her womb.

In this myth, Ouranos personifies the Mountain of Heaven, which physically explodes and falls to the Earth, thus sowing the seeds of creation. His name Ouranos meant literally ‘Mountain of Heaven’ (from the Greek word ouros for ‘mountain’), and he was thus a cognate for the older Mesopotamian gods Anu, Enlil, Enki, and Zu, who likewise personified the Mountain of Heaven.

Following her insemination by Ouranos, Gaia also gave birth to the mountains, the sea, and the heavenly abode of Mount Olympus, which Hesiod described as ‘a secure seat for ever for the blessed gods’.

At the same time, according to Hesiod, Gaia gave birth to an image of Ouranos himself:

Earth bore, first of all, one equal to herself, starry Ouranos, so that he should cover her all about, to be a secure seat for ever for the blessed gods.

The gods were thus given two ‘secure seats’: one on Mount Olympus and one on Ouranos (‘the Mountain of Heaven’). The idea, it would seem, is that the gods, having been born from the Earth, ascended into the sky to take up residence (a) on Mount Olympus; and (b) in the stars (Ouranos being synonymous with the starry heavens).

What was the nature of Mount Olympus? Not a terrestrial mountain with its peak in the Earth’s troposphere, as scholars assume. Rather, an invisible image of the original Mountain of Heaven (Ouranos), which was created in the so-called pure air, or upper air, which the Greeks called aither.

The Olympian gods, as invisible and aethereal entities, thus came to reside upon an equally invisible and aethereal ‘mountain’ which had been created by magic in the heavenly void.

The idea was that Ouranos, the father of the gods, had disintegrated and descended physically from Heaven to Earth, whereupon Gaia bore a metaphysical image of Ouranos in the sky, henceforth to be called Mount Olympus, and a metaphysical image of his ‘children’, henceforth to be called the gods.

Uranus Rules :	Aquarius (along with Saturn)
Exalted Degree :	23 Scorpio
Detriment :	Leo
Fall :	Taurus
Houses ruled :	11th house
Day Ruled :	none
Persons Represented :	any person who is considered to be unconventional, independent, chaotic, eccentric, or rebellious. In addition the exciting person, the person who brings change. Intellectual and or non-committed.
Keywords: scientific, impersonal, unusual aims, innovative groups, destruction, re-evolution, sixth sense Colors, Stones : checks, tartan, violet, purple; amber, uranium.
	Its symbol shows the cross of matter above the circle of spirit between the columns of Good and Evil (or Light and Dark).

IN THE CHART

Uranus is about change, unexpected, seemingly without pattern. The desire to break patterns of responsibility. Not necessarily to be free of the responsibility but rather just to be free. The wild card, electric, weird, fast, non-emotional, life-in-the-fast-lane. The energy of this planet is chaos.

When Saturn has our life firmly in its grasp via order, routine, habits, and life style, Uranus will come thundering into our world, to alter, change, or confront us with the vulnerability of our “nice safe secure systems”. It will blast us out of the structures we have built.

Uranus takes approximately 84 years to cycle the 12 signs of the zodiac (to go around the Sun), it will be in any one sign for 7 years – therefore its effect is on a collective level, influencing successive generations. Uranus is often associated with revolutions and its sign position shows in what psychological area of humanity revolutionary changes will take place. It is the harbinger of sudden and unpredictable events and electric and lightning in its effect.

The energy of Uranus seems to radiate out of a person when it is strongly transiting a chart. Light bulbs can pop, electrical failures and computer hiccups seem to trail behind us like unwanted guests! On a personal level its influence is to raise personal consciousness and can show where you are most original and where sudden developments will raise your consciousness. It represents the drive to be unique, to shock and to surprise.

How Uranus will manifest its energy depends on the horoscope as a whole. The Sign (and its Element), the House in which it falls, and the Aspects to the other planets will all have a bearing on any interpretation.

MEDICAL URANUS

Uranus rules your electrical life breath, personal as well as societal freedom. It indicates potential for originality of thought and expression. In society it rules the apparently radical ideas and people that are years ahead of their time. They lead to revolutionary events that upset established structures. The Aquarian age of which we are now entering is ruled by Uranus. Its cycle began with the discovery of electricity which it rules and is now interconnecting everyone on the planet with a synthetic telepathy.

Karmically, all aspects of the personal planets – Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, or the Ascendant – indicate areas of life where there is a strong urge for freedom of expression without restraint and the need for constant stimulation and excitement. This planet also represents the capacity to be high-strung, excitable, and temperamental. The motives of Uranus thus represent the purpose of radically repolarizing an individual’s past lives, and open one up to new experience either through stimulating, shocking, and even traumatic crises to find new ways of living. People who are ruled by Uranus are lovers of freedom, rebellious at least restraint, intuitive and inventive. They are aviators, high level mechanics, or deal directly with electricity. It also tends towards erratic behavior and can make people irritable and brusque in manner.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY: Skin, bone and joints, teeth, hearing, ossicification. Uranus rules all the rhythmic processes of the body. It rules the movement of the whole digestive tract from mouth to anus. Thus, the common symptom of its afflictions are spasmodic manifestations and disrupted rhythms – muscles spasms, shock, cramp, strictures, ruptures, paroxysms, and contortions.

Uranus rules the ankles, mental faculties, pineal and sexual glands, continence, immune system, arthritis, rheumatism, gall bladder.

CLASSICAL ASSOCIATIONS

none as the ancients did not know of the existence of this planet

The Fixed Signs like the status quo and will put up with almost anything rather than have to make any kind of changes. They like a routine, their routine, they like knowing what to expect tomorrow and the next day, and for this reason, will stick to something longer than they should, rather than edit anything. They are determined, persistent, stubborn, strong-willed, resolute, stable. Their minds are penetrating, and memories are excellent.

These signs are the middle months of each season.

The Fixed Signs doe in order follow the Equinoctial and Tropicks; and they are called fixed, for that when Sun enters into them, the season of the yeer is fixed, and we doe more evidently perceive either Heat or Cold, Moysture or Drinesse. The fixed Signes are these, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius.
— William Lilly, Christian Astrology (1647)

Others are called immovable, and they are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius,
for they are the middle ones and the air stays in one element.
— Avraham Ibn Eza (1092-1167 C.E), The Book of Reasons

HOUSES: The Succeedent Houses (2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th) correspond to the Fixed Signs. Not as powerful as the Angular placements, they denote financial affairs, stability, and purpose.

TAURUS (Fixed Earth)

Taurus: Keywords are stubborn, materialistic, sensual. The most "fixed" of the fixed signs. People with several placements here (particularly Venus) incline to the more material, sensual side of life — and laziness.

LEO (Fixed Fire)

Leo: Keywords are flamboyant, showy, playful. This is the sign of show business. No matter what the profession, the typical Leo sun-sign (and Sun-ruled) people act as if they are on stage. They carry themselves regally. They need the attention, the applause, no matter what their profession.

SCORPIO (Fixed Water)

Scorpio: Keywords are secretive, obsessive, sexy. Scorpio has a talent for uncovering secrets, but you will never get anything out of them that they are not willing to share. Scorpio placements are good for any profession involving healing (death and rebirth – Pluto-ruled) or investigating (detective, scientific investigations, etc.). The tendency to extremes affects other areas of the life as well. The negative side of Scorpio is jealously and vengeance.

AQUARIUS (Fixed Air)

Aquarius: Keywords are strange, unusual, shocking, far-out, peculiar, socially-unacceptable, and all these only on a slow day! Uranus-ruled, this is also the sign of genius. In the horoscope, it shows where we have the potential to transcend the ordinary. This is also the sign of friendship; Aquarius sun-sign folks are said to be closer to their friends than to their own families.

*Trivia: Did you know that the Tarot major arcana card The World features the 4 fixed signs in the corners?

The Air Triplicity is represented by the sanguine temperament, exhibiting active circulation, good complexion, genial nature, cheerful anticipation, good fellowship and general dexterity.

Air signs are intellectual and communicative. They are concerned with the things of the mind and function best in the mental level. Without them no reasonable planning is possible, no one would be able to think, let alone communicate ideas to other people. There would be no speech, no memory, no knowledge and no ability to criticize the excesses of other elements. Like fire and water, air relies upon earth for practical support.

The airy signs (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius) are said to represent the relative or connective conditions both within and without the body. They express as active, scientific and industrial. They have a tendency toward illnesses arising from exhaustion or over-exertion.

HOUSES:  The 3rd (relatives, neighbors), 7th (partners, 1-to-1 relationships), & 11th (social & mental relationships) houses are naturally ruled by Air signs and are considered the Houses of Relationships or the Relative Houses. Many planets in these houses describes someone who needs others.

Keywords: calm, charming, chatty, cold, communicative, detached, eccentric, friendly, harsh, haughty, highly-strung, idealism, imagination, impractical, intellectual, inventive, lacking direction, lively, logical, mentally active, planning, rationalizing, resourceful, sarcastic, self-opinionated, sociable, talented, thinking, unfeeling

In Medical Astrology and Astro-Meteorology the Air element is of the humour Sanguine, being hot and moist. 

GEMINI: Mutable Air

Gemini: The house that has Gemini on the cusp (beginning) shows the place in your life where communications and a constant information flow are important to you. Do you have Gemini on the cusp of the 8th House (sex)? Then you will never be “turned on” by anyone who is quiet. Stimulating, light, and “fun” conversation, though, should do the trick, before, after, and even during. But remember that Gemini is Mutable, adaptable, and easily influenced. This interpretation is modified by the sign and house placement of Mercury (ruling planet of Gemini) in your horoscope, as well as its aspects. For instance, if Gemini is on the 8th cusp and Mercury is in the sign of Capricorn, then the conversation will have to be about a serious subject. 

LIBRA: Cardinal Air

Libra: Libra rules beauty, art, charm, and the “social graces”. Gemini is raw information. With Libra, this is taken one step further. Libra is Partnership. We don’t just have people bumping into each other and exchanging information like two ships in the night.

While Gemini tends to witty, interesting information, Cardinal Libra gravitates towards beautiful communication. Libra is also the sign of Fairness and Justice. Its placement in your horoscope (along with the placement of its ruling planet, Venus) shows the place in your life where these qualities are most visible and most important to you. The house with Libra on the cusp (beginning) is also the place where the need for beauty is most noticeable. 

AQUARIUS: Fixed Air

Aquarius: Notice how this builds upon the previous sign: Gemini is brothers and sisters (local level), Libra is marriage and partnership (friendship circle is expanding), and Aquarius is friendship and brother/sisterhood  which are universal and all-encompassing. Aquarius is always trying to stretch the boundaries, if not break them. In the Zodiac, it comes right after the earth sign Capricorn, which rules organization, form, and limitations. Aquarius rips the boundaries and breaks the old forms so that it can bring in something new and startling. It is like Prometheus, defying Zeus to bring the gift of fire to humanity. Like Prometheus, many of them suffer for it.

In the horoscope, the house with Aquarius on the cusp (beginning) as well as the house that contains Uranus, its ruling planet, shows the places in your life where you can be at your most original and independent. If there is any genius in you, these are the places where it will tend to come out. Be careful though. These are also the places where you will be the most Rebellious, where you can shock people. Fixed Aquarius and Uranus tend to defy any established authority (except their own, of course). They have an open, direct, “in-your-face” quality that is unmistakable, but can get you into a lot of trouble.

CLASSICAL RULERSHIPS (traditional astrology)

This set of signs is ruled by Saturn by day and Mercury by night. The air triplicity relates to the sanguine humour which finds its seat in the blood. It is considered warm and moist in temperament.

The Libra triplicity is diurnal, comprising Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Saturn takes precedence during the day, because it both rules Aquarius and is exalted in Libra, while Mercury, ruler of Gemini takes precedence at night. Venus, the ruler of Libra is dismissed because it is a nocturnal planet and so needs to be substituted for a diurnal one. The options are Jupiter or the Sun. Since the Sun is essentially debilitated in two of the three signs that make up this triplicity, Jupiter is the natural choice.

Aries trigon – Sun, Jupiter, Saturn
Cancer trigon – Venus, Mars, Moon
Libra trigon – Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter
Capricorn trigon – Venus, Moon, Mars

Most early astrologers used all three planets, rotating their priority by day and night, but many later ones, including Lilly, chose to use only the principal rulers. Perhaps they rejected the convoluted logic that lay behind the definition of sect, or perhaps they were confused by Ptolemy who only mentions two rulers for the Aries and Capricorn triplicities, yet mentions three rulers for the others.